The Lost
by Coneflower Adams
Summary: When stopping for supplies, Wander and Sylvia come across a little girl separated from her parents because of Lord Hater. Now they're on a quest in search of her parents and answers to why Hater needed them.
1. Chapter 1

**The Lost**

_Writer's note: This is my first WOY fic, but definitely not my first fic. After seeing The Toddler (loved that ep!), I really wanted to write something where Wander and Sylvia had to be parents. Darcy is modeled after the little girl in The Nice Guy. She was too cute to not use! But in this fic, she has never met our traveling duo. Enjoy!_

* * *

"Where is everybody?" Sylvia's voice echoed off the buildings of the empty town. Hurtle Gurgle was a nice little town on a planet filled with beautiful rivers and streams and waterfalls. It was a very popular tourist destination, but now it appeared to be a ghost town.

"Maybe they had to evacuate again because of flooding," Wander suggested, peeking into a barrel filled with rain water, smiling at the tiny bugs performing a swim spectacular.

Sylvia peered around, shaking her head. "I don't think so, buddy. There's no evidence of a flood. The buildings are perfectly clean and the road as dry as a galactic ball sandpit."

Wander planted hands on hips. "I guess we won't be getting supplies here."

"Yeah," Sylvia agreed, walking over to her best friend. "C'mon, pal, let's get outta here." He hopped onto her saddle, but just as they were about to orble out of there, a sad little whimper echoed off the buildings.

Sylvia froze, eyes shifting back and forth searching for where the pitiful noise came from, muttering "Maybe someone is here."

"Hello?" Wander called out, sliding off her back. "Anybody there?"

They both stared wide-eyed as a little girl peeked around a tall garbage can. Green skinned with two antennas poking out her brown hair, she looked like most of the citizens of the planet. The first thing Sylvia noticed was the little girl's large eyes were wet and she wore the saddest expression she'd ever seen.

"Hello there, little darling," Wander greeted with an ever-friendly smile as he strolled over to her. He bent over, placing both hands on his knees to be eye level with her. "Name's Wander and this here is my best pal, Sylvia."

The little girl sniffled. Wander produced a handkerchief from under his hat, handing it to her. "I'm Darcy."

"Where is everybody, Darcy?" Sylvia asked, joining them.

"Gone," was her reply and one simple word never sounded so heart wrenching. "Lord Hater came and boarded everyone on a ship to relocate. My parents hid me," she sniffled again as tears welled up in her eyes, "and now I'm all alone." At the last word, she began crying in her little hands.

Wander glanced over at Sylvia, complete shock on his face. He stepped over to Darcy, wrapping her in a comforting hug.

"That flarf nardling tyrant!" Sylvia steamed.

"He's never relocated people before," Wander squeaked, confusion in his voice.

"I wonder what he's up to."

"Well, we need to go ask 'im."

Sylvia balked. "Are you crazy?! We're not going to go find Hater and ask him politely why he up and removed every person from this town!"

"But it may be the only way to find Darcy's folks," Wander added, patting the little girl's back as her tears calmed.

"You're gonna find my mom and dad?" Darcy asked, lifting her head from Wander's shoulder as a small smile replaced her quivering lip.

Wander punched downward, enthusiastically. "We sure are!"

Sylvia growled. She knew this was coming. Wander helped or adopted every single stray they came across. By now, Sylvia barely even fought the fact. It was something she called 'wander inevitable'. "Wander, where are we gonna leave this kid while we're going on this big search for her parents?"

"She's staying with us!" Wander answered, pulling Darcy by the shoulder against him.

"She's what? There's no stinkin' way we're having a kid traveling with us!"

"Awww, Sylvia! It'll be fun! How can you turn down this little face?"

Darcy's eyes seemed to grow wider as she gazed up at the zbornaik. Sylvia groaned, knowing she was beat. She was becoming way too soft after all the years traveling with the friendliest person in the universe. "Okay," she grumbled, and went rigid as the girl attacked her with a fierce hug.

"Thank you! I promise I won't be any trouble!"

"Uh..no problem, kiddo." Sylvia awkwardly patted the little girl's head. She glanced over at Wander, who was about to explode from joy. She gently pushed Darcy away. "Now let's blow this popsicle stand. We still need to find supplies."

Wander hopped into the saddle again, reaching a hand down for Darcy to take. With the little girl secure in front of him, they orbled out of there. Sylvia groaned again as she heard Wander tell their new travel companion, "You can call us Uncle Wander and Aunt Sylvia."


	2. Chapter 2

The next town from Hurtle Gurgle was almost on the other side of the planet, and after casually asking the grocer about why Lord Hater had relocated that entire town, Sylvia still didn't have an answer. Asking a few more townsfolk proved to be useless too. No one even knew that Hurtle Gurgle had been invaded!

Sylvia grumbled to herself as she trekked out the store. She found Wander and Darcy down the road a short distance sitting on a table top outside of an ice cream parlor. Darcy happily sucked down a chocolate chunk milkshake as Wander licked a snowy cone, creating points at the top of the ice cream. Both their dangling legs swung in unison. "She's definitely his kid," Sylvia muttered to herself then shook her head at the thought.

"Hey Sylvia!" Wander greeted, waving as if he hadn't seen her in ages.

"You gotta little something right there, buddy," Sylvia said, passing over a greeting and gesturing to the space above Wander's mouth.

"Oh, pardon my appearance," he apologized, producing a napkin from nowhere and mopping up the white, creamy substance from his mouth.

"Well, I got nowhere with the questioning," Sylvia continued, setting the bag of groceries down and seating herself besides Darcy. Wander offered her a taste of the snowy cone as they started passing it back and forth to each other. "It's as if no one here ever talks to people in Hurtle Gurgle."

"That's because there's rivalry," Darcy piped up. "My dad told me a long time ago there was a huge crystal rush. There were two brothers and one brother stole the other's crystals they had just dug out the mines," her voice grew more excited as the story went on and her hands started flying about acting out the story, "so the other brother was furious and they had a huge fight with giant pike axes that split the planet in TWO and that's how Roaring River was formed." Darcy nodded her head proudly as she ended the tale.

"What a neat story, Darcy!" Wander exclaimed, patting her on the back.

"Wait, what does a river being formed have to do with two towns being rivals?!" Sylvia asked exasperated, the snowy cone paused an inch from her snout.

"Don't you get it, Syl!" Wander snatched the cone from her before she could take another taste, and she peered at him, bewildered. "The two brothers! One formed this town and the other formed Hurtle Gurgle."

"Oh," Sylvia looked off, embarrassed she had focused on the wrong end of the story, "that makes sense." She peered off into the distance, watching the hustle and bustle of the townsfolk. "Looks like we're not gonna get anywhere fast staying here. Might as well find a place in the nearby woods to stay for the night and get a move on early in the morning."

A tiny gasp beside her made Sylvia jump. "We're going camping?" Darcy exclaimed, bouncing.

"Sure!" Wander answered, throwing his arms out nearly sending the snowy cone air born.

"I love camping! My dad takes me sometimes!" The bright smile on Darcy's face faded at the mention of her dad.

Wander wasted no time tossing the cone to Sylvia and wrapping the little girl in a warm hug. "Don't worry, Little Bit, we'll find your folks. You can bet the farm on Uncle Wander and Aunt Sylvia."

Sylvia watched for a moment before sighing and gulping down the rest of Wander's treat. She hopped off the table, grabbing the bag of groceries. "Let's get a move on."

* * *

Darcy was a big help gathering firewood, and soon after they had a crackling campfire with a flavarian stew boiling in the pot hanging over it. The little girl was awestruck, her eyes sparkling with wonder, as she watched Wander pull out everything they needed from his hat. When she stuck her hand in the hat, she pulled out a little ragdoll. "Guess that's something you needed," Wander said, smiling as she hugged the doll to her chest.

With bellies full, they settled in for the night. Wander tucked Darcy into his hat, patting her head as she closed her eyes, then he snuggled into Sylvia, who had curled up like a sleepy cat.

"Goodnight, Uncle Wander," Darcy's sleepy voice broke through the quiet.

"G'night, Little Bit."

"Goodnight, Aunt Sylvia."

"Night, kid."

"Uncle Wander? Aunt Sylvia?"

"Yeah, Little Bit?"

"Thank you for helping me."

"You're more than welcome, Darcy."

Quiet filled the air around them again, only the sound of the fire cracking softly was heard. Sylvia peeked through droopy eyelids at Wander, his smile warmer than the fire dancing close by.

"G'night, Syl," he whispered.

The corners of Sylvia's mouth twitched up. "Night, pal."

"G'night, John Boy."

Sylvia groaned. "Wander..."

* * *

Sylvia nearly threw Wander a mile high when she bolted upright at the sound of screaming. She jumped to her feet, ready to pulverize whoever was harming their little travel companion when she stopped short to find no one there. She watched, frozen, as Darcy thrashed around, kicking herself out of Wander's hat.

She found Wander beside her, paralyzed at the sight as well. Darcy screamed again, pawing at the grass under her. Sylvia finally snapped out of her trance and rushed over to the girl, wrapping digits around Darcy's forearms to hold her still before she hurt herself.

"Darcy!" Sylvia yelled, and suddenly wide eyes flew open as the little girl awake. Darcy whimpered, throwing her arms around the zbornaik and crying into her stomach. Sylvia looked helplessly at Wander, who rushed over and replaced himself as her comfort.

"Hey, Darcy-girl," Wander soothed, petting her brown hair, "what happened?"

"My mom and dad," she sniffled, burying her wet face further into Wander's fur, "I saw them being taken away again."

Wander glanced up at Sylvia, tears welling up in his own eyes. They weren't used to this. They could handle scary situations, their lives being threatened, having to fight for each other. They could handle being separated by force or any sadness that came between them. They could handle all this happening to each other, but not the open hurt of a little girl who witnessed her parents being taken by force.

Sylvia felt a boiling hot ball burning in her chest, a feeling she only had when Wander was being threatened, but now it was there for this little girl and Sylvia decided she'd do anything within her ability to reunite Darcy with lost parents.

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_Writer's note: Anyone get the "G'night, John Boy" reference? If not then I guess I'm old. Anyroad, I love Wander calling Darcy "little bit", because that's what I call my baby daughter and I like how Wander said it in _The Bad Guy_ (I adore Jack McBrayer's voice acting on this show! It's such a pleasure to listen to)._


End file.
